Your Brand – Is your presence online hurting or helping you?
I remember a presentation that two practitioners gave to one of my PR classes in College. The presentation was called two cents from two guys and the biggest takeaway was how you can brand and market yourself to your potential employer, professional, et all. Since then, the social world as we know it has exploded in popularity initially without parameters or guidelines for students and young professionals as to who might see the thoughts, pictures and interests they posted online. The part that many of us never thought would happen was this ultimate adoption across ages, professions and the penetration into corporations that social media has managed. This penetration without forward thinking by young professionals has led to things like this.
So, in honor of one of my favorite classes, here are some tips for not only saving your future employment using “smart” social media behavior but how to optimize your presence and brand yourself online.
Before you get start take a break and indulge in some ego-googling. What does Google tell people about you – your passion for food? Expertise in marketing? Great insights on relevant industry topics? There are two important questions to ask yourself – does your Google search hurt your online image or does it elevate your presence as a “must hire” expert?
Found your rank and want to improve it? Take action …
1. Get registered – make sure you have an updated profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, etc. Since social media is indexed more often that static Web sites your mentions and insights on these sites rise to the top of search results.
2. Blog, tweet and communicate online using your real name so you get credit for your intellectual contributions and connections you create. If you’ve changed your name recently plan for the change and use both for a while, use the former name field on Facebook, or work fast to optimize the new name.
3. Blog, tweet and communicate online about topics you can provide expertise, a unique perspective or information that can be a differentiator for you. Some of my favorite examples – Hugh MacLeod; Advergirl; Chris Brogan; or any local blogger with a passion for what they write about.
4. Buy your dot com – and use it as a forum for dialog about your profession/industry trends, a virtual resume and if you’re in a professional where you can show off your work, post examples.
5. Optimize your content, just as you would any other Web site, invest some time in SEO. Be relevant, track back to others in your industry and use words that are highly searched.
6. DELETE – If you’ve been online socially for awhile and are entering the professional world as an intern or entry-level professional, do some reactive purging of information that is old, out of date or unprofessional. In most cases once its online the damage has been done but you need to delete it anyway. So all of your keg-stand pictures – just ask your friends not to post those because you’d like a job in the future. Recruiters and HR professionals will narrow their search first by people who don’t manage their online reputation well because that could reflect poorly on the employer. On the other hand, people who optimize their presence online have access to more opportunities and give themselves a step-up from other candidates.
There are some great resources out there for optimizing your time on many social sites. Here are a few for my favorite social sites:
Post your favorite tips in the comments.
Update: More thoughts on your online rep
Be listed on online directories for your profession; join the conversation – comment on blogs in your field or something you’re passionate about, respond to questions on LinkedIn’s answers section and be active in conversations on twitter don’t tweet in a vacuum; and most importantly keep working to extend your network keep your ideas and information fresh.
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As one of the two guys who gave you two cents, I feel obligated to say how impressed I am with the “Newly Corporate” blog. I’ll be sure to include it in my upcoming talks in Athens and Ada.
It’s amazing how much we as employers can learn from a potential colleagues online presence. Someone is always watching, and we’re curious what you’re doing. It’s a fine balance though – we want to find you participating in the social media world, but we also want to like what we see!
Thanks for the link. I hadn’t read this blog before today. Will have to spend some time cruising through it.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” no?
Something else which I find to be critical is the power of authenticity, being true to yourself and others when you allow for your blog and online presence to speak for you.
You came close in discussing the use of one’s real name and finding a niche to talk about… but that niche has to pertain to one’s passions, and the posts have to truly represent the author.
Grammatically correct, coherent sentences free of spelling errors always matter, of course, but if one is not a scholar, he or she shouldn’t be over-intellectualizing matters. Even when using one’s true identity, Web 2.0 still has the potential to anonymize actual personalities, but nothing can be gained from misrepresenting one’s self.
I wonder if google will someday eliminate the need to write a resume. If people can accurately portray you by what they find by googling your name, why bother with a resume? And if this is true, does it mean that we will have to willingly give up our privacy? Will it mean that anyone not willing to hop online and market the crap out of themselves will be left in the dust?
I think this post is great advice for someone wanting to be famous, or someone who wants to market a new product or idea. For most folks, though, I think this is overkill. In fact, I think most young professionals would be better served to cleanup and minimize their online presence (i.e. damage control on facebook images).
We’ve got a related post here: http://newlycorporate.com/2008/02/14/5-ways-to-establish-yourself-as-an-expert/
Great post by Jamie. It is incredibly important to be cognizant of what is out there online about you, because it is your personal brand. In today’s world, with everyone using the web to find out more about employees and potential employees, it’s extremely important for people who are actively searching for jobs to know what their online presence is telling potential employees and others.
I don’t really agree with Dan’s earlier comment that this post is only good for people trying to be famous or who are marketing a new product. I think what Jamie was trying to get across is that you are the product that you need to be worrying about with your online presence, and careful consideration of how you’re allowing yourself to be portrayed is extremely important, especially for those who are early in their careers and have yet to make a name for themselves.
About.com just added 3 new sites to their Top 10 Employment sites list:
http://www.linkedin.com
http://www.realmatch.com
http://www.indeed.com
Only one of them is a social network. Employers and recruiters dont care if they know someone, they want to hire the most qualified candidate….nothing will ever change that.
All – I appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this topics. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough in my post. My intent in this post was to show that the internet is a viable way to market yourself to employers and make sure that your online reputation is strong in case you ever need it. The internet plays a role in the hiring (and firing) of employees and I think it is something for everyone, regardless of profession, to take into consideration. The level of value, as Dan says in the comments above, in proactive marketing of your brand online most likely depends on your profession.
David – I agree, it’s not all about social networking. Those other sites mentioned are however online and if it makes sense for your brand to be there, that’s online reputation and marketing too.